Pakistan-origin England’s Shoaib issued Indian Visa

LONDON (Agencies): Pakistan-origin England’s young spinner Shoaib Bashir on Wednesday, finally issued India visa to partake in the five-match Test series, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed.

Bashir will now travel to Hyderabad where he will join England squad over the weekend. Shoaib Bashir, born and raised in Surrey, faced India Visa saga due to his Pakistani heritage.

The 20-year-old spinner is not the first international cricketer to have gone through such a situation. Right-arm pacer Saqib Mehmood had to miss the England Lions tour of India in 2019 while all-rounder Moeen Ali arrived late to partake in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2022.

Australia’s left-handed opener Usman Khawaja, whose parents were born in Islamabad, faced visa rows and arrived late for his team’s tour of India last year.
Notably, Bashir, who was staying back in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the company of ECB’s director of cricket operations Stuart Hooper, had to travel back to England to resolve the issue at the India High Commission.

“Shoaib Bashir has now received his visa, and is due to travel to join up with the team in India this weekend,” an ECB spokesman said. “We’re glad the situation has now been resolved.”

Earlier on Wednesday, England’s Test captain Ben Stokes expressed his disappointment over the long-going Shoaib Bashir India Visa saga and revealed that it had the touring squad considering the option of not flying to India.

“I’m pretty devastated that Bash has had to go through this,” Ben Stokes told reporters in Hyderabad.

“When I first found the news out in Abu Dhabi, I did say we shouldn’t fly until Bash gets his visa, but that was a little bit tongue in cheek,” the England captain said. “I know it’s a way bigger thing, doing that. That was probably just (my) emotions around the whole thing.

“There was never a chance that we were not going to travel around this, but Bash knows he’s had our full support.”

It is worth mentioning here that a late issuance of India Visa to Shoaib Bashir resulted in him failing to make a cut into England’s Playing XI for the first Test against England.